The present disclosure relates to integrated circuits, and more specifically, to a method and resulting structure for forming self-aligned contacts for a fin-type field effect transistor (finFET) structure with reduced gate height loss.
FinFET structures are widely used in the integrated circuit (IC) industry. As scaling of ICs has continued, it has become progressively harder to align contacts to parts of the finFET structure while maintaining the integrity of other structure. For example, current approaches for forming via openings for self-aligned contacts, e.g., applied at the 7 nanometer (nm) technology node, result in unacceptable gate height loss for the finFET structure.